DMac
Joined: 29 Nov 2007
Posts: 21
Location: San Francisco California
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 Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2007 6:11 pm Post subject: Word counts |
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this little thread looked so lonely and empty I had to add something 
From a post by WithAnticipation over on the NaNo "December and Beyond" forums -- at last, an accurate tool to figure out the word count of published novels!
| Quote: | I have been looking for this information forever, since it's so hard for us to extrapolate what our computer typed pages will turn out to be in a published book. There still isn't a formula I've found, however I came across this info and thought I'd share.
You can find out the word count of many, although certainly not all, published books. If you look up the book on Amazon and scroll down past the editorial reviews and the product details to a section called "Inside this Book". In that section is a heading called "New!" and under that is something called "Text stats". Click on that, and along with some other information, is the total word count for the book. You can check the number of pages under the product details. Those will vary depending on whether it is a hardback, paperback, or different edition etc. The word count remains the same.
I did this for most of the novels listed under my favorites on my author page and it was enlightening. I had heard that publishers won't touch a first time novel that's over 180,000 words (and that's pushing it). "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt was a first novel and it clocked in at 200,360, which is 524 pages hardback. Of course, she knew some well connected folks . . . So, I'm still left with cutting about 80,000 words from the novel I've been working on for the last year. Yes, I said "cutting". But hey, I cut almost 1,300 words yesterday, so I'm going great guns here
And I solved the question between my boyfriend and I as to which book has the higher word count "Infinite Jest" or "War and Peace"? I said W&P. I won. "Infinite Jest", in case you care is 483,994 and "War and Peace "beats it by almost 100,000 words at 590,234. Now you can all breathe easier;-)
Lisa:-))
With Anticipation |
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